MPs and Parades.

Yesterday we worked on the condo a bit, and we were just finishing up a delightful gumbo and rice lunch when there was a commotion outside the window. Police had pulled up and began blocking traffic on St. Charles. We heard music...a parade! Apparently, this was an impromptu Sunday afternoon of music and merry-making just wandering the streets of Uptown and the Garden District. Me, my husband and his cousin Dorothy all ran outside to join in the wandering crowd that had gathered and was headed down Washington Avenue. Dorothy has lived here since the 1960s, weathered Katrina, and was the first tenant back in the condo after the storm. She is actually my mother-in-law's first cousin, a classy southern woman and a great music lover. We all caught up to the parade crowd and the music was hypnotizing. Everyone was dancing, smoking, drinking beer...it was truly wonderful. Dorothy started crying. Apparently, this kind of event hadn't occured since Katrina. Everyone was happy to be dancing in the streets. She leaned over to me and yelled, "I love this city." Yeah. Me too. We followed the growing crowd down to Annunciation, where they turned west. There was this crazy white guy in a suit that was jumping up on cars and dancing--he was a total freak. Everyone was laughing at him. He had one of those small, orange survey flags sticking out of his ass--I think. He was just wacky. It was the best Sunday afternoon I had had in years.

Another bit of happy news came yesterday in the form of streetcars running on Canal and the Riverwalk. Right now the city is borrowing the old St. Charles line cars since the newer cars used on those lines were destroyed during the flood. It will be a while before the St. Charles line runs again. I believe that little by little, things are trying to return to normal. I can't say enough about how terribly destroyed so many parts of the city are, but people are trying to clean up and go on. And lots of people from other states are here helping out, too. I asked a bartender how he felt about the military police being here; he said he didn't mind since the NOPD needed all the help they could get. Plus, the military guys are so low-key...they know they could be in a much worse place and I think that they are thrilled to be working here, actually. They have all been completely nice when I have had a chance to speak to them. They just show up anywhere...the grocery store, a restaurant...they walk in with their flak jackets and their M-16s and they just wander for a bit, then leave. There is always an MP hummer down on Bourbon Street, and the night we went down there drunk revelers would just walk up to them and thank them for their service. People in my town would freak if the military sent a presence to keep the peace. It seems to be working here. Order is more desirable than lawlessness, no matter how it is created. However, I believe in the long run that a city police force is ultimately more desirable than a military presence.